A shell and tube heat exchanger tube bundle consists mainly of an array of transversally spaced, coextensive, parallel tubes mounted in tube sheets at their opposite ends and supported at one or more intermediate sites by passing through transversally extending baffles. The tubes are tightly connected to or tightly engaged with the tube sheets and baffles.
As a rule, the tube sheets and baffles are longer lived than are the tubes, which develop leaks and need replacement.
The act of retubing a bundle is a conservative measure, as it reuses the tube sheets and baffles, sending only the old tubes and any other too-deteriorated parts to scrap.
To retube a bundle, one tube sheet is removed by cutting the tubes behind that tube sheet. The tubes are then driven out of the other tube sheet with an air hammer or the like. The task of pulling the tubes from the baffles remains, and the present invention addresses that task.
Costello, U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,158, issued Dec. 31, 1974 shows a small and portable device for pulling out tubes, after the tubes have been pulled an initial three inches or so by other means.